Hot Rodding Trends - All The Rage

Fads come and go. Other blips in the culture of hot rodding have lasting impact. This story is loaded with both of those as seen in the actions, words, and products of many hero builders and manufacturers. HOT ROD is in the unique position of knowing those guys and therefore getting hooked in to a number of facets of the marketplace. We are always considering what the next big thing may be, or even the cool little things, and we take note of what's hot. When we report on those trends, as we have done here, some readers think we are trying to cram styles and products down their throats. Back off that notion and take this for what it is-an industry overview of what's going on right now. The story is an implement of entertainment and edification loaded with concepts to accept or reject at your personal whim. HOT ROD is the flagpole, these ideas are the flags, and you get to decide if you're saluting or not. Simple as that.

Hottest Competition Events
In 2010, real enthusiasts are rebelling ever more vehemently against mainstream, national motorsports and are following the types of grassroots action they can at least imagine themselves doing with their own cars or they can vicariously enjoy via Internet critique. Here are some of the hot spots:

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Standing-Mile Racing
The biggest growth area is in events where racers discover how fast their cars will go in 1 mile from a standing start. This spin-off of dry lakes racing is often held on old runways, and the progenitor is at Maxton, North Carolina, with the East Coast Timing Association (www.ecta-lsr.com). The Texas Mile has also run for a few years (www.texasmile.net), and in 2009, a new venue in Maine was introduced by the Loring Timing Association (www.lta-lsr.com). The latest news is a race in the California desert at the Mojave Air and Space Port (www.mojavemile.com). And in Sweden, they run a flying kilo on ice (www.landracing.se). Between those dedicated events and the 1-mile shootouts held during some of the popular open-road races, top speed is the word for 2010.

Open-Track Events
Ten years ago, no one with a muscle car ever ran it around a road course. Five years ago, some guys did. Today, there are guys who actually beat on their cars and live the dream of a legion of others who really want to be out there cutting corners. Check with your local road-race track and you'll find a few clubs or companies that host track days where you can go test those big brakes and 18s.

Beater enduros
The 24 Hours of LeMons series has been around for several years and has enjoyed coverage that would seem excessive for an event where $500 beaters race enduro-style on road courses, but people keep eating it up. So much so that the knockoff series ChumpCars is now gaining traction. See www.24hoursoflemons.com and www.chumpcar.com.
-David Freiburger

Beater Enduros
The 24 Hours of LeMons series has been around for several years and has enjoyed coverage that would seem excessive for an event where $500 beaters race enduro-style on road courses, but people keep eating it up. So much so that the knockoff series ChumpCars is now gaining traction. See www.24hoursoflemons.com and www.chumpcar.com. - David Freiburger

Smog-Legal GM E-Rod Crate Engines
The biggest news at SEMA '09 was the introduction of the GM Performance Parts E-Rod smog-legal crate engines created through a SEMA initiative with the California Air Resources Board. The legal project was managed by the SEMA team of Jim McFarland, Steve McDonald, John Brueggeman, and Russ Deane, while GM engineers handled the certification of four crate engines based on production Gen IV V-8s. Available now is the 430hp 6.2L LS3 and soon to come are a 5.3L LS3 with 327 hp, a 427ci LS7, and the top-dog, supercharged, 550hp LSA engine as used in the '09-and-up Cadillac CTS-V. GMPP also has installation parts such as oil pans, accessory drives, and even transmissions.

3/19Here is an E-Rod LS3 as installed in GM's CleanRod '55 Chevy. The engine comes with the controller, harness, catalytic converters, evaporative emissions parts, inlet ducting and MAF sensor, and even the drive-by-wire throttle pedal.

The impetus for this program was California's January 1, 2011, deadline for amnesty being granted to builders of specially constructed vehicles (SCVs) who have laundered car titles and values to evade emissions or taxes. SCVs are homebuillt cars not based on OE bodies and frames, such as kit cars, fiberglass rods, and repop steel-bodied muscle cars. Cars like those have frequently been registered under bogus pretenses. SEMA's negotiations and GMPP's demonstration of low-emitting engine packages that can be practically retrofitted allowed CARB to legally accept the E-Rod powerplants in SCVs, simplifying inspections and registration.

As a bonus, E-Rod engines are also legal in any pre-OBDII car, meaning '95 and older in most cases, which opens up possibilities for hot rodding '70s, '80s, and '90s cars that may have never before been practical for hop-ups because of emissions considerations.

4/19This is the '55, which used to be the old pale-yellow project car that appeared in many magazines in the '90s. It's a real '55 and not subject to emissions testing, but it shows how one of the new reproduction cars could be built and legally registered.

The E-Rod engines do not have the familiar E.O. number for smog exemption but are rather considered a complete emissions package; an E-Rod engine has its own set of criteria for inspection as would any given year, make, and model of car. The engines come with all the plug-and-go electronic controls as well as with catalytic converters and a package of evaporative emissions components that must be installed on the car's gas tank.

Hot rodding in the face of increasingly radical emissions legislation will be tough, and insiders tell us the restrictions desired by some politicians are so bad they sound alarmist to describe, but they are real. Options like the E-Rod could be the future of hot rodding. - David Freiburger

The ADRL
The American Drag Racing League is the greatest American auto racing success story of the last 50 years. Once nearly on the brink of death, the series has rocketed in recent years to become, pound for pound, the most popular and exciting drag racing series in America. It is all door-slammer (aside from the wild motorcycles), all eighth-mile, and all on the ragged edge. The series has kept the mechanical limitations to an absolute minimum while maintaining strong safety standards. The top two categories, Pro Nitrous and the totally insane Pro Extreme, are home to the quickest door-slammer drag cars on the planet. The current record in Pro Extreme sits at 3.666/207 mph and is owned by Jason Scruggs who, in this realm of racing, is a colossus.

5/19Photo by ADRL/Joe Lorenzini

The series started life running at small southern tracks and now has a unique situation where spectators pay a parking fee and walk into the race for free. They blow out every venue they visit, and these are some of the largest dragstrips in the country. Most of the tracks they now visit claim that the ADRL crowds are the largest in their history. Learn more by visiting www.adrl.us. - Brian Lohnes

Multiplex Wiring
New electrical tech like Isis' multiplexing system permits easy wiring of (formerly) complex electrical accessories in old-school rods while reducing the need for daisy-chaining a bunch of switches and relays-all while saving weight big time. And bulky luxury add-ons like air conditioning have been downsized to fit unobtrusively and cleanly behind the dash. See "Multiplexing for Hot Rods" in the Jan. '10 HRM. - Marlan Davis

6/19The latest Isis multiplexing system add-on is the inMotion controller that allows direct Isis control over electric windows, door locks, sunroofs, and convertible tops without the need for special switches and relays. Now any switch can be used to match your car's interior theme. Photo by Isis

The '10 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet
Having established the baseline for what a badass factory drag race machine needed to be, Ford is really bringing the thunder with the '10 version of its Mustang Cobra Jet. Production will still be limited to 50 units (all of which are already sold), and it will still be packing a blown 5.4L engine, but this one will be topped with a Whipple 4.0L blower. Ford rates it at a hilarious 425 hp, and picking the correct options gets that rating bumped to 475 hp, which is even funnier, as the car, according to insiders who are set to receive one, will run in the mid-8s. The quickest lap for an '08 Cobra Jet (at this writing) was a 9.28-at-141-mph lap laid down by Carl Tasca of the famous Tasca Ford dealership in Rhode Island. They were the people who created the package at their dealership that Ford used when constructing the '68 Cobra Jets.

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There's a lot to be frustrated and miffed at with respect to the domestic auto manufacturers, but this car is a shining example of what happens when the people with a genuine love of cars, not counting beans, are allowed to ply their trade without red tape and restrictions. This car is going to be a monster in NHRA Stock and Super Stock competition for years to come. - Brian Lohnes

Nostalgia Funny Cars
The nostalgia Funny Car uprising started to gather steam about 10 years ago and is now a burgeoning industry. There are people making their livings repopping old bodies. The thought of that back in the early 2000s was unfathomable. With the IHRA's recent announcement that it will be including Pro-stalgia Funny Cars at most or all of its races, these cars are no longer relegated to running only at nostalgia events. Everyone wants a piece of the action. With teams really getting a handle on how to successfully run the cars, laps in the 5.80s at more than 250 mph are happening. The cars throw flames, actually have some semblance of a factory car identity, are sporting cool names, and aside from the modern chassis, look the part of their predecessors.

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While California initially had a hammerlock on these babies, that's no longer the case as all corners of the country have been infected with the madness-there are even stout cars in the wilds of Maine. There are match races from coast to coast, some regional series, and the NHRA's Heritage Series provides a great format for teams that want to run on a national level. Aerodynamics be damned, these cars rule. - Brian Lohnes

Variable Valve Timing
For several years, the OEs have employed variable valve timing that allows computer-controlled, situational-dependent adjustments to cam timing. Pushrod engines have had simple advance-and-retard capabilities, but DOHC engines, as described in the story "Return of the 5.0L" in this issue, have the ability to adjust the intake and exhaust cams independently, allowing dynamic adjustment of both the effective lobe-separation angle and of intake and exhaust events independently of one another. It's amazingly effective at broadening the power curves.

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The aftermarket is beginning to embrace the VVT engines and their capabilities, as seen in the story "The Next Phase" in the Aug. '09 HRM. Also see "What's New in Cams" in this issue. -David Freiburger

Drag Radials
It is a phenomenon that started in the late '90s with BFGoodrich's introduction of the G-Force T/A drag radial, and its popularity has taken off from there. A radial-construction drag tire that is DOT-legal is the perfect blend of street and strip. It doesn't matter if you need a big or small drag radial or dedicated strip- or street-type tires-there are companies that offer just about anything. We have seen massive drag radials that measure 30x12 inches, and guys go 6.80s on 'em. Dave Hance is the current world record holder on Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials with a 6.83 at 220 mph. Virtually every street-legal sanctioning body-like NMCA and NMRA-offers a Drag Radial class, from no-rules Outlaw style to limited power-adder categories and even some naturally aspirated eliminators. They are some of the most popular classes. On the street, manufacturers such as Nitto, BFG, Hoosier, Mickey Thompson, Toyo Tires, M&H, and now Goodyear offer a variety of sizes from popular 15-inch fitments to several sizes in the 20-inch range. -Michael Galimi

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Self-Tuning EFI
Electronic fuel injection (EFI) enhances driveability, improves fuel economy, and broadens the power and torque curves. But first-generation EFIs' myriad sensors, octopus-like wiring harnesses, and complex tuning procedures requiring a laptop PC have put off many traditionalists, keeping carbs in play. Now attractively priced, new-gen throttle-body injection (TBI) with self-learning ability greatly simplifies EFI. The throttle bodies have integral injectors and bolt in place of a Holley four-barrel carb. The user answers basic questions about his engine on a handheld programmer (no PC required), the brain computes a startup curve, the engine is fired, and the auto-learn kicks in. The more miles driven, the more it learns, and the better the curve gets.

New-gen TBI players include FAST's EZ-EFI (see HOT ROD, Dec. '09) and Retrotek. The latter's Powerjection III even looks like a standard Holley four-barrel on the outside; it also offers Nostalgia EFI TBI with up to eight Stromberg 97-style throttle bodies. Spark is still set traditionally, however.

The next evolution is Holley's Avenger EFI. Available in TBI or true multiport fuel-injection versions, it's still fully controllable without a PC. Besides fuel-side self-learning, Avengers can control OE GM and Ford computer distributors via several predefined spark curves (the curves can't be manipulated, though).

Full fuel and spark control under all conditions usually require a PC. After downloading base fuel and spark maps from the manufacturer's website to get you going, new systems can now auto-tune the fuel curve, eliminating hours of calibration. The newest full-control, self-learning system is Holley's midlevel HP EFI and its top-line Dominator EFI (both work with TBI or multiport EFI). The Dominator can run electronic automatic transmissions, too. Other self-learning multiport EFI systems include Retrotek's Stage III EMS and Mass-Flo's EFI. Mass-Flo uses a factory-preprogrammed base map plus a mass airflow meter that theoretically offers greater adaptability than speed density-based systems. -Marlan Davis

Positive-Displacement Superchargers For Late-Model EFI Engines
The horsepower wars in Detroit have led some manufacturers to supercharged special-edition vehicles. We instantly think of the factory-blown Ford SVT Lightning ('99 to '04) and Cobra ('03 to '04) models as bringing positive-displacement superchargers to the modern muscle car wars. Those models helped spawn the current hot trend of Roots and twin-screw superchargers that are going on everything from LS engines to modern Hemis and Ford's family of modular motors. The twin-screw blowers from Lysholm, Whipple, Saleen, Ford Racing, and Kenne Bell are battling it out on the street and strip with the Eaton Roots-style superchargers from the likes of Edelbrock, Magnuson, Roush, Harrop, Ford Racing, and others. Twin-screw technology has led to 1,000hp capabilities thanks to ever-growing systems using displacements ranging from 1.1L to the popular 2.3L and even going as massive as 4.0L.

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Two years ago, Eaton revamped its Roots supercharger guts with the Twisted Vortices System (TVS) and with it came better efficiency, more boost, and massive power gains to rival the twin-screw. Today, we have counted nearly half a dozen companies making supercharger applications utilizing the TVS rotor design. Look under the hood of the '09 Corvette ZR1 and Caddy CTS-V to find that the OEs have turned to this technology to satisfy its customers' power lust. - Michael Galimi

Turbocharge-Anything
From land speed racing to the drag racing digs, adding a turbocharger (or two, three, or four) has never been as popular. Credit the strong 5.0 Mustang drag racing movement for the explosion in popularity. Thanks to the supporting staff of EFI and torque converter technology, adding a turbo to your car has become a (mostly) casual addition. In drag racing applications, we have seen engines produce up to 3,500 hp and watched wild antics from Mike Moran and Tim Lynch break nearly every barrier on the quarter-mile. Larry Larson even showed that the docile nature of a turbo engine allows his '66 Nova to cruise the streets trouble-free and click off 6-second runs at more than 200 mph in Hot Rod Drag Week(tm) trim. A single giant turbo is one of the main ingredients in Drag Week(tm) veteran Jon Huber's '79 Mustang as he pushes the car into the 8s while knocking off 24 mpg with a four-cylinder. Technology truly is wonderful. These exhaust-driven boost makers complement any engine size and make ridiculous power when the wick is turned up. There are some companies that specialize in bolt-on kits, but many applications require fabrication-it's worth the time and effort. - Michael Galimi

Pro Touring On The Track
The original Pro Touring cars, back in the mid- to late '90s, were built to do everything well. They looked like muscle cars but accelerated like drag racers, cornered like new Corvettes, and stopped like you threw out an anchor. But then as the trend became more popular, the cars got super nice-so nice in fact that we had a sneaking suspicion that they would never be driven hard enough to take advantage of the trick hardware used in their construction. Thankfully, that is changing as guys are throwing away the show ropes and driving their stuff hard on the road course at the many open-track events and competitions that have sprung up. RideTech has really pushed conducting autocrosses at events such as Goodguys shows, but the biggest deal yet is the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. At the '09 Invitational (see last month's Roddin' At Random for coverage), we watched high-dollar, SEMA display cars sliding through the dirt, burning through tires and brake pads, and generally being driven with extreme prejudice. It was glorious and really raised the bar for what a modern muscle car is all about. - Rob Kinnan

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Wired Wheels
The hot trend in wheels today, especially on high-end cars, is wire. Maybe it's because billet has been done nearly to death. Even with CNC one-offs that can cost $40,000 a set (really!), there are only so many ways to carve a billet wheel-after a while they all look the same. If we could identify an early adopter of the current craze for fine-spoked, Dayton-style wires, it might be Dan Webb's track roadster, but now we are beginning to see them everywhere, including on Troy Trepanier's off-the-hook '56 Chrysler 300B (July '09 issue).

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"It's a judgment call, like everything else," Troy says. According to Troy, wire wheels allow far more artistic expression than you might think. "It's wide open. You can make the rim one color or type of metal finish, the spokes another, and the basket another. We're working on a '32 pickup right now with wires where we went wild with it. Wait till you see it. It'll blow your socks off." - Bill McGuire

Brown is the New Black
There is a basic hot rodding precept that says the paint must be as loud as the pipes. Nothing screams, "Look at meeee" like Chrome Yellow or Candy Apple Red. The rodder's color palette, while bold, was surprisingly limited. The operative term here is was, because recently the color choices have been opening up. Builders are exploring new and different tones, including...brown, of all things. Until now, you wouldn't think rodders even considered brown a color. But here it is, used to great effect in top cars like Chip Foose's 'Cuda and Bill Steele's Model A coupe, the '09 Goodguys Hot Rod of the Year (shown here).

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Bill selected brown for the Model A because for his car, it's real. It's a color that belongs to a car of that era, so it can't help but look right. "Before the '30s, most cars were black. The Model T came in one color and that was it," says Bill, a professional painter who knows his paint history. "When Duco came in as the first fast-drying lacquer, more colors became available, but they were all muted, solid colors, no metallics. Dark blue or green, browns. Earth tones. Brown has always been there. " - Bill McGuire